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Act now to stop escalating Iraq crisis-Seán Crowe TD

Sinn Féin's spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, Seán Crowe TD, has called for immediate international action to stop a massive humanitarian catastrophe in Iraq.

The radical and fundamentalist Islamic State (IS) continues to take over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria forcing thousands of minority ethnic and religious groups to escape the brutal onslaught.

Deputy Crowe said:

"Since the brutal and sectarian Islamic State group attacked the town of Sinjar in northern Iraq the UN estimates that 200,000 civilians have been displaced and forced to flee.

“While fleeing from their attackers 50,000 members of the Yazidis religious community were trapped on Mount Sinjar by this sectarian army.

“The religious group are facing an impossible situation. Inevitable starvation and dehydration if they stay on the harsh mountainous terrain, or execution at the hands of the IS if they come down.

“This is basically an attempt at genocide by IS fighters and the world must act immediately to stop it.

“Most of the minority groups, as well as other innocent Iraqi civilians have been pouring into the Kurdistan region in the north of Iraq and the Kurdish forces have been bravely fighting the IS militants, but it is unclear how long they will be able to hold out.

“There must be a united and concerted world effort to halt this attempted genocide and to urgently get the trapped 50,000 Yazidis to a safe zone.”